- Pabst Blue Ribbon is brewed in the finest traditions of an American Premium Lager dating back to 1844. Brewed with a combination of 2 & 6-row malted barley, select cereal grains and American and European hops, Pabst Blue Ribbon is fermented with a proprietary lager yeast. Our unique fermentation and maturation process results in a smooth, full bodied beer with a clean, crisp finish with a fine noble hop aroma.
- ABV% 4.74
- Calories 144

Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by tang214:

Being poor lately I have had a chance to sample some of the cheaper beers. This is only an average brew and that even takes into account the price of it. It has a light straw color that leaves something to be desired but it does pour with a much better head than most poor man's beer and it thins out to leave a thin layer and leaves minimal lace. The taste is very decent with nice malty flavor. It has an aroma of corn and not much else. It has a smooth mouthfeel that goes down very easy. I barely enjoyed this beer but found it to be drinkable but there are still many other brews that I would put in my list above this one. One thing about this beer that I really did not like was the tightness in my head that it caused that appeared after I only drank like four. I don't think I will get this one again even if I am running low on funds.

Taste: Light to moderate body, nice even crispness with a somewhat effervescent carbonation. The smooth mouth feel rides on the tail of the carbonation, thin malt palate. Kiss of hops, bitterness peaks after the crispness subsides and the dryness kicks in. Trace of alcohol hit the tongue and warms the mouth and throat. Hops stick to bitterness and provide no flavour other than a faint grassiness. Some corn grit flavour in the middle, not cooked grits but rather fresh milled grits. Clean palate throughout with a great wrap-up of dryness in the finish.

Notes: This is a great premium American lager, hands down beats the big three. About the same in the bottle but obviously better on tap. A perfect change up when things get a bit tedious and want to drink a simple beer.

With its recent surge in popularity, it seems they've started selling PBR in big ol' 30 racks, instead of the standard case. Maybe this is old news, but today was the first time I saw a 30 pack... and for $12!

Poured into a glass, this beer isn't exactly easy on the eyes. It really doesn't even smell that much better than your average crap beer (if anything, it smells more like BEER than most macro crap, which usually tends to smell like water). It's the taste that is so surprising... a macro brew with HOPS in it! What a concept! Very crisp and refreshing. The corn flavor isn't exactly my thing, but it's not overwhelming. This is a very smooth drinkable beer.

As a college student, I'll admit that I've done my fair share of heavy boozin / session drinking. But I'm proud to say that when the wallet's feeling light, I make mine a Pabst.

Ok. This is not a top shelf beer. This stuff is cheap, corn-heavy adjunct lager. That being said, it's dang tasty when it's hot out, has a little more ABV than your run of the mill 3.2, and I love that when I bust one out, very few people swarm around to get their hands on one, making it an even better value! Pale yellow in color, It's got enough malty body to separate it from the miller/coors/bud barley pop, while still being easy to drink in quantity. No real discernible hoppiness, especially compared to my standard IPA/DIPA fare. Refreshing, but not a light beer. Taken for what it is, I believe it to be a great beer, when limited to class-comparison. I'm drinking one right now, as it's 85, sunny, and I'm grilling. Boom.

Light yellow color. The head is very large initially and retains fairly well considering its a macro. Unbelievably disgusting oceanic aroma (sea water, salt, seaweed) along with light grains and corn. Watery, corny flavor with hints of light grains and sauvignon blanc. Terrifying.

Don't be a pretentious beer snob, guys. PBR is actually decent for a mainstream adjunct lager. It's very refreshing and smooth. Granted, PBR is thin, light-bodied, lacks flavor and aroma, but it's not as watered down or horrible as the other macro lagers (i.e. budlight -sorry).It has a slightly funny scent of metal, faint hop profile, and grainy (corn-like) note to it. I still give this more points for being cheap and largely available. Also, the taste is clean and crisp. I don't mind drinking this.

Pretty much the only time you're going to "enjoy" one of these is at the end of the night when you've already had too much to drink. I read somewhere that every time a PBR is drank, a hipster gets his vintage bicycle.

Pours a crystal clear light yellow color with a 1 inch white head that fades to a film on the top of the beer. Small random spots of lace form on the glass on the drink down. Smells of corn flakes, sugar, and slight cooked veggies. Taste is of sweetened corn flakes and other grains. This beer has a high level of carbonation and is very crisp and clean in the mouth. Overall, this is a pretty good beer and my favorite macro beer I have tried thus far in my life. A nice go to beer when you are looking for something cheap.

Just a run-of-the-mill lager brew that is a good filler/cleanser between craft brews. Give it a 4 on feel... purely because of the cost/quality affect of having fun with beer. Nothing overpowering in this beer... but clean. Love that it comes in pint cans to wet the whistle after a long day in the yard, at the lake, or coming off the slopes.

I see that the reviewers gave PBR a 72 rating & the Bros an 80 rating. And the reviewers gave Beck's a 67 rating & the Bros a 62 rating. Are you all nuts?!! Beck's now may be owned by InBev & brewed in St. Louis, MO. But I recently called Beck's brewmaster & he assured me that they were still brewing to the German Purity Law, which means they're only using water, barley malt, hops & yeast. I'm sure Pabst isn't doing the same. I know why all of you are rating Pabst higher than Beck's. It has nothing to do with PBR's quality. Rather, it's the "pseudo-hipster's" rating, i.e. "PBR is 'cooler' than Beck's because it doesn't advertise & has the patriotic U.S. colors of red, white & blue." C'mon everyone - get real. No way is PBR better tasting than Beck's. And no, I don't work for Beck's & I'm not German. However, I've brewed my own beers & know a bit of what I'm talking about.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is the perfect beer for stumbling down the street while discreetly sipping from within a brown paper bag. PBR is the drink of choice for NYC hipsters and classy hobos alike.I usually grab PBR when I only have a few dollars left to my name and I desperately need to forget my problems with a drunken stupor and horrific hangover.It has a very mild taste with no distinguishable hops, and it goes down smoothly. It is best to drink PBR while laying in the darkest corner of a subway stop.

Overall I thought Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) was an OK beer. The taste wasn't as good as I expected, but it was still not a terrible beer. The appearance of the beer was nice, but the smell was not that good. If I was offered this beer sometime in the future again I would have one, but I would not buy it.

Taste  Typical American macro grain but heavy on the sweets. The fruit tastes like a weak type of orange syrup.

Mouthfeel  Nicely carbonation and even a tad refreshing.

Drinkability  The absence of anything offensive, and the big sweet flavor that masks the grain, makes this OK to drink.

Comments  I never drank PBR growing up (I was a Miller Man), so I dont have any nostalgic attachments to this beer, but this isnt as bad as I thought it was going to be. I find it funny though, reading the label, that when deciding to advertise that the beer has won an award they had to go all the way back to 1893.

The good old American red, white, and blue makes it fun to look at, too. The wheat stalks climbing up each side are reminiscent of the print that the US Treasury used on the back of American pennies from 1909 to 1963 or 64. Cool.

Update  I originally rated this in 2003 so thought Id get a fresh 2006. The smell is definitely the worst part of this beer but otherwise its really not that bad in a white trashy kind of way. I stand by my rating: just shy of average for an Adjust Lager.

Had in bottles, cans, on tap, you name it. Pours a golden, deep-straw color with lots of clarity and a thin-ass white head that is gone before you can say "PBR". Aroma is full of bustling malts and grains, maybe a hint of corn, slightly metallic and copper-like, faint touch of very dry and crisp hops in the background. The taste pretty much follows right along with the nose, handfuls of malty goodness and thick rows of sweet grains swarm the palate; hops are hard to detect, but come in a little bit stronger during the latter half, tasting very dry, crisp, and leafy, no citrus or pine or anything like that. Bitterness is low, but then again so is the sweetness, so the beer remains balanced. Carbonation provides a super crisp and clean mouthfeel, enhancing some of the end-note malt flavors that roll around. Thin body, dry finish.

PBR is a pretty average beer, but it's certainly the American adjunct lager of choice, especially for the price. This stuff is dirt cheap, and plenty of bars around will carry it. Is it extremely flavorful and masterfully crafted? No, not really. But it's something nice and easy to drink when you just want something to drink.